Ampera grabs green award

VAUXHALL'S Ampera extended range electric vehicle has been honoured as Green Vehicle of the Year by fleet decision-makers at the prestigious 2012 Association of Car Fleet Operators (ACFO) Awards. The awards, which are voted for online exclusively by the ACFO membership, are highly-prized because unlike many other awards they reflect the day-to-day operational experience and expertise of fleet decision-makers. This prize is the latest in a long line of over 40 top gongs for the ground-breaking Ampera, which include the current European Car of the Year, What Car?

Chevrolet Volt for European sale in November 2011

Chevrolet will start selling the Volt range-extender hybrid from European Chevy outlets in November 2011 and plans right-hand drive from UK launch in spring 2012. It means that GM will offer Europeans the choice of the Volt or the Opel/Vauxhall Ampera – the Euro spec version of the same car. Although prices are not yet set for either model, CAR understands the Chevy is likely to be positioned slightly cheaper than the Vauxhall.

Driverless cars on UK pavements by 2015

REX Driverless cars are starting to look less and less like science fiction and much more like a realistic vision of our near future – and now the first UK trial of the technology is set to start in Milton Keynes in 2015. But don’t go expecting a Ford Fiesta with a brain. Instead the Milton Keynes experiment will feature compact pods that you can hail via a smartphone app, zipping along pavements at up to 12mph.